Public documents and certified copies: income-tax statements filed with returns may be admissible as secondary evidence.

A profit and loss statement and a net income statement filed with a return of income can qualify as public documents when they form part of the assessment record and relate to the acts of a public officer. Section 54 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 regulates confidentiality of disclosure, but it does not by itself bar admissibility under the Evidence Act where the document is otherwise receivable. On that basis, certified copies of such filed statements may be proved as secondary evidence under Section 65(e), and public policy alone does not exclude a duly issued certified copy.

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Issues: Whether a profit and loss statement and a statement showing the details of net income, filed by an assessee in support of a return of income under the Indian Income-tax Act, are public documents within Section 74 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, so that certified copies are admissible in evidence under Section 65(e) of that Act.

Analysis: The Court held that the confidentiality provisions in Section 54 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, regulate disclosure by public servants but do not, by themselves, exclude admissibility of a document otherwise receivable under the Evidence Act. It was considered that a return and supporting statement furnished to meet the Income-tax Officer's requisition form part of the record of the assessment proceedings and thus answer the description of documents forming the acts or records of the acts of a public officer. On that basis, certified copies granted to the assessee may be proved as secondary evidence of the original public documents. The Court also distinguished earlier views treating such returns as purely private, and rejected the proposition that public policy alone could bar the use of a duly issued certified copy in evidence.

Conclusion: Yes. The filed statement and return were held to be public documents, and their certified copies were admissible in evidence under Section 65(e) of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

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